Here goes
.
Thanks as always to Alisha, Beth, Nancy and CarolynK.
In honor of Independence Day, I may post again tomorrow - depends on if I have time or not - company coming you know.
*****
Chapter 38
*****
Lois and Clark sat in the oversized chaise as the credits for "Sound of Music" began to roll. The new White-Lane-Kent-Olsen family tradition was: stay in pajamas all day, use Clark's powers to make breakfast and Christmas dinner because he could have it done in minutes and no one had to slave over the stove all day, and, after presents were opened, watch movies. Lucy was a bit better cook than she had been when she moved in with Lois and Clark, but still had no desire to make Christmas dinner for everyone. Lois was hopeless in the kitchen and Alice loved Christmas dinner but hated making it. Jimmy and Perry were the same way. Clark didn't mind to do it – and was capable of it – so everyone was happy.
Lois had picked "Miracle on 34th Street" and Lucy had picked "It’s a Wonderful Life". Alice had gone with "Sound of Music" and now it was Clark's turn to pick.
"'Die Hard' coming right up!" Jimmy said gleefully. "No more of this sissy stuff."
Lucy groaned. "Do we have to?"
"Now, darlin', we all watched the sappy stuff you guys picked, so turnabout's fair play, Perry told her.
"Fine." Lucy went to refill her hot chocolate. "I really want to hear more about Venice though."
"We have a week before we go back, Luce," Lois reminded her. "Besides, it's Bruce Willis without his shirt on for half the movie."
"Mmmm, good point."
"HEY!" Clark and Jimmy exclaimed at the same time.
Lois patted Clark's chest. "Relax." She looked at Jimmy. "Both of you. We're not going anywhere."
"And actually... about that week thing..." Clark started, then picked an envelope up from the side table where it had been hiding under a book. "After what we talked about this morning, I made a call."
Lois gave him a puzzled look, but opened the envelope. "A week at Chateau Roberge. Kinsington, New Troy. January 2nd – 9th. What's this?"
"Well, we're here until January 2nd. We don't have anything planned until the 12th in Paris – we were just going to start exploring the area, but nothing concrete. You mentioned a couple weeks ago that you hadn't been skiing in years and combine that with what we talked about this morning, and I thought I'd give them a call."
"Chateau Roberge is supposed to be an ultra-exclusive hideaway for the rich and famous. How'd you get us in?"
"Well, we sort of fall into the rich category, but I got a letter from them last month offering us a stay sometime. Apparently, their head PR guy is a 'Tour the Planet with Lane and Kent' fan, so we're famous, too. I called up there and he happened to be in – something about a country singer needing the right kind of Skittles or something – so... He's got us in a really nice suite that week, if you want to. I told him I'd have to double check with you first, but he said that skiing, room service, whatever else we want, *everything* is on the house. Provided we write it up, of course."
"Do we want to know what you talked about this morning?" Lucy asked warily.
Perry and Alice exchanged a glance.
"Just that it would be really nice to get to sleep in as late as we wanted without *some* people banging on the door." Lois glared at Jimmy.
"Don't you guys get to sleep in whenever you want? I mean, you're *travel* writers who are *traveling*. You don't have to be at story meetings or anything else. Must be the life," Jimmy said.
Clark laughed. "It's not quite like that. If we're out late at a club or restaurant or something, we might sleep in, but we're usually out the door no later than nine or so most days."
Lois nodded. "Even though we're travel correspondents, we do have a minimum contract with the Daily Planet on how much we have to provide every month. Some months we provide a lot more and other months a little less – like when we moved from Athens to Paris and then took a week off for Christmas so it's not like we just work as little as we want. And we do lots of stuff that doesn't get written up. Mostly, we only write up the good stuff so we do lots of things that aren't good enough to make it into the paper. It's a good life, don't get me wrong, but we don't sleep in very often. So, yes, sleeping as late as we want would be really nice."
Just then the previews were over and they turned their attention back to the television.
*****
"I do have something else for you," Clark said as he sat on the edge of the bed.
Lois was already sitting under the covers, looking at one of the books she'd received. She looked up at him. "Something else? Clark, you've already done too much. I mean, I know Chateau Roberge was just a phone call, but still..."
He smiled at her. "This one was easy and very inexpensive." He pulled another envelope out of the suitcase. He stared at it, fingering the corner as he spoke. "I've been debating about giving this to you for a few weeks now." He handed it to her. "Open it and then let me explain before you decide how to react, okay?"
Lois nodded and took it from him. She slipped a finger under the flap and pried off the sticker that held it closed. She took a slip of paper out and read it slowly to herself and then out loud. "This coupon good for one date with your husband, anywhere in the world, on any date of your choosing." She continued to stare at it, not sure what to think.
"There's no pressure or anything of the kind," he hurried to reassure her. "I wanted to give you a way to let me know that you're ready for me to ask you out without the additional pressure of having to bring it up in conversation or anything else. Whenever you're ready – and I know that could be a while – just leave it somewhere you know I'll find it and it couldn't be by accident. So if I'm looking for something in your nightstand and see it, I won't take that as a sign. If I find it taped to the bathroom mirror... That's different. Once I find it, within 24 hours, I'll ask you out on our first real, proper date. That way you know it's coming but don't have to wonder for days or whatever. Unless I get called off to a volcano or something of course."
He reached for her hand. "Things have been so much better between us lately – like this morning. Six months ago, there's no way we could have talked about spending all day in bed together – even if it is for nothing more risqué than a movie marathon. I'm enjoying where we are now. We're friends. We can flirt a little bit and I enjoy the touches and all of that and I know you wouldn't be like that if you thought I would get the wrong idea and I'm not; I won't. I love that we're getting more comfortable with each other and I don’t want to ruin that by pushing you, but I also get the feeling that maybe you're getting closer to that place and I wanted to give you some way to let me know when you're ready for that without making it any harder for you."
He continued to stare at their hands as he took a deep breath. "And I'll tell you right now, so there's absolutely no expectations or pressure of any kind, I'm not going to kiss you on that first date. I don’t want to finally get there and be out for dinner and dancing or whatever and have you be concentrating so much on the end of the date and freaking out because I might or might not kiss you or whatever that you can't enjoy the date itself. So please, don't read any more into this than there is. There's no pressure or anything of the kind."
Lois smiled as she stared at the slip of paper. "You've said that like twelve times now."
He smiled back at her. "I wanted to make sure I got that point across."
"Well, you did. And thank you. I have wondered how I would manage to start that conversation when I'm ready. This alleviates that concern."
Clark shifted so he was sitting next to her. "That was the point."
She rubbed his hand absently with her thumb. "I know you won't take this the wrong way, but what if we go on this date and we get back to the apartment or here or wherever we're staying and I want you to kiss me?"
"Not going to happen."
"Why not? We're standing there and I want you to kiss me. Why won't you?"
"Because I don't want that or any other decision about our romantic, physical relationship to be made on the spur of the moment; in the heat of a moment. I want us to have clearly defined boundaries that you're comfortable with, that you're free to move back at any time, but that can only be moved further after we talk about it when we're not in the middle of a make out session or whatever."
Lois nodded slowly. "I like that idea, but I want to make sure I have it clear in my head, even though it'll be a while. If I understand what you're saying, then I won't obsess over it. Maybe."
Clark laughed. "That's what I was hoping for. That you wouldn't obsess."
She smiled back at him. "Scenario one: we've gone out a few times. I've told you that I'll give you some sort of signal if I want you to kiss me – like touching your face a certain way or something."
Clark nodded.
"I invite you in for coffee and I touch your face. You kiss me. We keep kissing for a few minutes. I'm really enjoying it so I try to pull you down on top of me on the couch. Technically, we're still just kissing but..."
Clark tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I take a deep breath, get up, tell you I had a good time, I'll call you and walk away. If we haven't discussed something like that, I don't want you – or me – to get carried away and do something that one or both of us will regret because you're not ready."
"Okay. Scenario two: We've been dating a while longer. We've agreed that horizontal kissing is okay, but no wandering hands or anything like that. We're sitting on the couch. You kiss me. We've said it's okay. We've done it on our last couple of dates. You push me back on the couch and I suddenly decide that it's not okay – for whatever reason. Flashback, panic attack, just not comfortable with it because I've had a bad day or whatever. Then what?"
"You tell me to stop and I do. No hard feelings, no pressure to do anything you're not comfortable with just because we've done it before. I mean it when I say I'm not going to pressure you into something you're not comfortable with just because one or both of us got carried away."
Lois nodded. "Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me."
Clark just kissed the side of her head.
"One more. Scenario three: I've decided that I'm ready to take that final step. Maybe we've been dating for a while, maybe not, but for whatever reason, I've decided that I really do want to make love to you. But I don't want to talk it to death or talk about it on Monday but our next date's not till Friday because we have Planet stuff the next few nights but if we know it's coming on Friday – or could be coming on Friday – those days could be awkward and then get to Friday and the anticipation has totally psyched me out."
Clark winced. "That doesn't sound like a good scenario for either of us."
"That's not to say we won't talk about it at all when we get closer to that point - I think we will and we should - but I don't want to *have* to say something like 'Okay, Clark, I know it's Monday but I've decided that after Friday's date we'll have sex for the first time'. The week could be awkward and what if we get to Friday and I've got a headache - a real one not a 'to get out of sex' headache - but I don't want you to know because I feel obligated to go through with it then..."
Clark nodded before saying slowly, "But that week could be like anticipating your wedding night. It wouldn't have to be awkward, but like waiting for Christmas or your birthday or something - you know it's coming but waiting isn't necessarily a bad thing."
"That's possible, but let's say I've decided I'm ready, but don't want to talk about it – for whatever reason. Maybe it's a sort of spur of the moment thing or something. Or something I've been thinking about for a while, but that 'tonight's the night' snuck up on me. How can I show you that without you misreading it accidentally? Like I mentioned some sort of signal that I want you to kiss me. Something like that. Something that clearly indicates I've thought about it and I'm ready for it, but I didn't want to talk it to death before hand."
Clark nodded. "I see what you mean." He thought for a minute. "The most obvious answer is whatever Aunt Louise gave you."
She nodded her agreement. "Okay. That's plan one. But let's take a for instance... we're at a resort somewhere. I didn't bring it with me because I wasn't planning this, but suddenly, somehow I knew that this was the night. I can't just tell you to run back to get it."
Clark thought about that. "Just out of curiosity, do you even have it with you in Paris? I mean, I really don't expect you to, because we're obviously not to that point yet but..."
She shook her head. "No. It's not in Paris."
"Okay then. It's still here in Metropolis then. At least that's my guess."
Lois nodded.
"Okay, so whatever Aunt Louise gave you is here in Metropolis, but you've decided that you're ready?"
"Yeah."
A slow grin spread across Clark's face. "Well, if that isn't available and you want to give me some kind of signal that you're ready to make love with me, you could always put on one of my dress shirts. Believe me; that would do it."
"And you won't have Lana flashbacks?"
Clark chuckled. "Honey, trust me. If I come home one night or we get back from a date and you tell me to have a seat while you freshen up and then I see you wearing one of my dress shirts... Lana will be the absolute *last* thing on my mind."
"Okay. So Aunt Louise's nightgown or a dress shirt. Got it."
"That also means no dress shirts unless you mean it," he said with mock severity. "Not that I know why you might be walking around in one of my dress shirts for any other reason but..."
Lois laughed. "No dress shirts unless I'm ready for you to take it off of me. Got it."
Clark got up to pull the covers back and climbed under them. "Now, let's see if we can find that warm, comfy spot Jimmy made us leave this morning."
*****
January 1989
*****
"Happy Anniversary." Clark held up his glass of wine. "And now, you're officially old enough to have this here."
Lois laughed and raised her glass. "Happy Anniversary."
"I didn't get to propose a toast to you at our wedding, so I'm going to tonight okay?"
Lois nodded.
They were seated in the extremely upscale dining room at Chateau Roberge. She wore the black dress Clark loved and he was in his tux. She knew they would be dancing before long.
He swirled the wine around in his glass. "The last four years haven't been easy for either one of us. The first half of last year was a nightmare and the fallout from that was no picnic, but it was a catalyst that brought us closer together and has us moving in the right direction. Here's to another year with the most beautiful woman in the world as my wife; to a year for us to continue to build our relationship; to a year for us to continue to learn to love each other." He paused.
Lois continued softly. "To a year without people trying to tear us apart, both individually and as a couple; to a year of continued prosperity so we never have to eat Ramen noodles again; to a year that will hold our first date." She couldn't quite look him in the eye as she continued. "To a year that, I hope, will see us make love for the first time."
Clark reached across the table and lifted her chin with a finger. "I hope it is too, but just because you say that here, tonight, doesn't mean it has to happen."
"I know. But I want it to. I want to be able to go somewhere for our fifth anniversary and do something besides sleep or have a movie marathon in the bed. I'm not ready for that now, but I want to be before this time next year."
"I know. And if you are, believe me, I will be the happiest guy alive. But if you're not, I'll still be the happiest guy around, because I have you with me." He raised his glass again. "To us."
She smiled at him and touched her glass to his. "To us."
They each took a sip of their wine.
Clark smiled at her. "Would you like to dance?"
She smiled back. "I'd love to."
She didn't notice Clark nod at the band leader, but moved willingly into his arms.
The band leader spoke. "This next song is for Clark and Lois Kent on their fourth anniversary."
She pulled back and looked up at him as the next song started. "I'm not singing this time," she told him with a smile.
"Will you sing for me some other time?"
She nodded. "But not in front of other people." She moved closer to him as they moved around the dance floor. "We're a lot better at this than we were four years ago."
"We are," he agreed. "But one thing hasn't changed."
"What's that?"
"Well, more than one thing. You're still the most beautiful woman in any room and you're still completely unforgettable."
Lois blushed and rested her forehead on his chest. "You're not exactly forgettable yourself you know."
He leaned closer and whispered in her ear. "That wouldn't have anything to do with the flying would it?"
She laughed lightly. "That doesn't hurt, but no." She looked him in the eyes and moved her hand from his shoulder to the middle of his chest. "What makes you unforgettable is your heart. The way you've loved me for so long. The way you've taken care of me. The way you've never pushed me but, especially lately, let me know that you find me attractive at the same time. The way you took care of Lucy – in ways I wasn't able to at the time – looking out for her and Jimmy. The way you help when and where you can. But mostly just because that's what makes you, you."
He pressed his lips to her forehead. "Thank you." He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him – the closest they'd ever danced. "I do love you, Lois. So much."
"And I love you, Clark. More every day."
Every eye in the room was on the handsome dark-haired couple as they moved around the dance floor.
*****
"Is this late enough for you?" Lois mumbled as she rolled over. They'd pulled the drapes as tight as they would go and a glance at the clock showed her it was late morning.
"Will they still let us order breakfast?" Clark lifted his face just enough to be heard.
"I think so."
"Then no, not late enough."
"They have 24 hour breakfast."
"Oh. Then maybe." He lifted his head enough to look at the clock. "Yeah, I guess so." He rolled over and pulled her to him. "We finally got that warm spot just right again."
Lois used her free hand to pull the covers – including the poncho liner – up around her shoulders. "You're better than a hot water bottle."
"Glad to know I’m good for something." He tightened his hold slightly. "So, the day after our fourth anniversary and we're going to spend the whole thing in bed?"
"Pretty close." Lois yawned and stretched. "We have nothing planned. We have a big stack of movies. You can do your eye thing to make to make the popcorn."
"My eye thing?"
"Yes."
"Okay, my eye thing. *And* you're going to let me eat popcorn in bed."
"You're like a little kid," she said, smiling at him.
He smiled back, kissing her hair. "Well, you don't let me eat popcorn in bed at home."
"No, I don't. Because there's no maid service to change the sheets when you get popcorn crumbs or butter all over them."
"So if I promised to change the sheets, you'd let me eat popcorn in bed at home?" he asked hopefully.
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"Because the butter leaves stains."
He sighed, resigned. "Fine. But, since I have an invulnerable stomach, I'm gonna eat all the popcorn in bed that I can while we're here."
Lois laughed. "Works for me."
"So what's first on our agenda? Lounging? Or lying around?"
"First, I have to go to the bathroom and you have to order breakfast."
"Hurry back. Ordering breakfast is interfering with my doing nothing."
Lois laughed. "You're the one who's going to have to answer the door when it gets here."
"Why me?"
"Because I said so," she called over her shoulder as she walked towards the lush bathroom.
"You're mean," he called back.
"You're lazy!"
"Got that right."
Clark picked up the phone and ordered a big breakfast for them, including a large fruit plate that they could munch on throughout the day and several packages of microwave popcorn. There were plenty of drinks of all kinds in the wet-bar so that wouldn't be a problem, though he did order milk and juice with their breakfast.
A few minutes later, Lois crawled back under the covers with him.
"Do you think this is what that PR guy had in mind when he offered us an all expenses paid week here?"
Clark laughed. "I doubt it, but we can write about it anyway. 'We wanted to spend our whole day in bed with an all-you-can-eat buttered popcorn movie marathon and the chateau catered to our every whim – bringing us breakfast, lunch and dinner in bed and even providing clean sheets once there were popcorn crumbs throughout the bed.'"
Lois practically snorted. "I'm sure Stern and the chateau would be thrilled to no end with that write up."
"Well, we can still write it up as a day in the suite with a movie marathon while enjoying the snowy Northern New Troy atmosphere." He glanced towards the curtains. "Besides, it's snowing pretty hard. We couldn't ski today anyway."
She snuggled closer to him, pulling the covers back up over her shoulders. "Then this is the perfect plan for today."
"The biggest two questions of the day are... Ready?"
She nodded.
He held up one finger. "What do we do while we wait for them to come change our popcorn crumb infested sheets?"
"Soak in the Jacuzzi."
"Sounds good." He held up two fingers. "What movies are we going to watch and in what order?"
"I dozed off during 'Die Hard' the other day, so that's on the definite list."
"Good. Do you want some sappy love story in the mix?"
She shrugged. "Depends on what they have. Use your vision gizmo to see the selection."
"Vision gizmo?"
"Yep."
He looked at the cabinet. "We've got all three 'Star Wars'..."
"Oooo, Harrison Ford!" Lois exclaimed.
Clark glared at her. "Both 'Short Circuits'. 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' 'Young Guns'."
"We have to watch 'Young Guns'."
"Why?"
She stared at him. "Emilio Estevez. Kiefer Sutherland. Lou Diamond Phillips. Charlie Sheen. Do I need to go on?"
"Do I need to tell you why the movie that has my wife rattling off four of the top young, hot actors of today for is not on the top of my list?"
"Did you listen to me and my friends at prom?"
"When?"
"When you were talking to the guys and we were talking about you. Did you listen in?"
He blushed. "Yeah. Some."
"Well, they compared you very favorably to the Brat Pack, remember?"
"Yeah."
"Well, half the Brat Pack is in there. I want to see for myself." She smiled sweetly at him. "Besides, I think you'll like it, too."
"Actually, it is on my want-to-see list."
"See?" She gestured towards the cabinet. "What else is there?"
"'Twins'."
"Eh. I've heard it's funny but, just so you know, Danny DiVito and Arnold hold absolutely no appeal."
"'Rain Man'."
"Dustin Hoffman – no. Tom Cruise – member of the Brat Pack."
"'Beaches'."
"Only if we decide we want a good cry."
"We don't."
"Then no."
"What do you want to watch first?"
"How about a 'Star Wars' marathon followed by 'Die Hard'. I'm not sure we want to watch Bruce Willis killing half the bad guys in LA while we eat breakfast."
"Good plan. And then 'Lethal Weapon'. We didn't get to it the other day either."
A knock sounded at the door in the other room.
"That's for you, Clark." Lois smiled sweetly at him.
"You're mean."
"Just go get us breakfast."
"Yes, ma'am."
*****
Lois sunk into the Jacuzzi tub in their bathroom and sighed.
"That nice?" Clark called from the other room where he was waiting for the maid service to arrive with new bedding for them. They actually had spilled soda all over the place when Clark tried to do his Yoda impersonation. Lois had soda come out her nose and knocked Clark's drink over in the process. They were just glad he hadn't tried his impression during the 'Star Wars' marathon because that was the first thing they'd watched. No, the impersonation had taken place during 'Young Guns'. Fortunately, it was near the end and so they'd called the front desk and finished the movie while they waited for fresh linens. The movie was already over so Lois had piled her hair on top of her head and put on the swim suit she'd brought for just such an occasion, filled the Jacuzzi and climbed in.
"Yes," she said, her head thrown back and her eyes closed. "It really is that nice."
"Is there really room enough for both of us?"
"I think so," she said without opening her eyes. "You might have to sit pretty close to me, though. It's supposed to be for two people, but they expect those people to be pretty close to each other."
"I suppose I'll manage somehow." A knock at the door cut off further conversation and Clark waited politely, if somewhat awkwardly while the sheets were changed. After a minute he moved to the laptop sitting on one of the tables and typed up a few things. He smiled and thanked the young lady as she left.
In little more than half a second he was in his swim trunks and stepping gingerly into the Jacuzzi.
Lois laughed at him. "If the water's not too warm for me, there's no way it's too warm for you."
He grinned. "I just didn't want to splash you." He sank down into the point of the heart shaped tub, his legs stretching to the side opposite Lois. "So, all day in bed with me. How'd it rate?"
She looked at him thoughtfully. "I'd do it again."
He laughed. "I wish you sounded a bit more convincing."
"Oh, I'd definitely do it again, but the snow's supposed to stop so we should get to ski tomorrow."
"Let's see... another movie marathon in bed with my wife or ski... Let me think about that for a minute." He winked at her. "Skiing it is."
